George A Taylor: The Wireless Messiah and Very Naughty Boy

G A Taylor: The Wireless Messiah and Very Naughty Boy

George Augustine Taylor is known for being the founder of what is today the Wireless Institute of Australia.He organised and chaired the meeting in 1910 that started it all.

Only months before that, he was the first man to fly a heavier than air craft in Australia, on 5 December 1909 at Narrabeen, having established the Aerial League of Australia earlier that year.

In the early-1900s, George Taylor "saw the future" in aviation and the new wireless technology. He was the right guy, in the right place, at the right time, with the vision, the connections and "the push".

He became the "wireless messiah", promoting the nascent broadcasting industry. However, George Taylor came to that position from a very different direction. Unable to get work as an architect in the mid-late 1890s, he exploited his latent talent as an artist, producing cartoons for The Bulletin, the Melbourne Punch and The Worker, a union newspaper.

He befriended well-known artists, writers, journalists and poets, and they formed The Dawn and Dusk Club - an excuse for the Bohemians of Sydney to get together, eat drink and make merry! He was a very naughty boy. Better yet, he wrote a tell-all book about it !

George Augustine Taylor - his life and the times. Presentation By Roger Harrison at The St George Amateur Radio Society meeting Wednesday 3rd August 2011, commencing at 7.30 PM, Donnelly Park, Kyle Parade, Kyle Bay. Members, friends and visitors are most welcome. Tea, coffee and biscuits provided.